Noein: Volume 2

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All Rise...

In an alternate dimension, Judge Adam Arseneau can throw a Volkswagen a whole half block.

The Charge

To your other self.

The Case

Noein: Volume 1 was a perplexing
marriage of a teen adolescent drama interwoven with mysterious black figures,
alternate-dimension hopping, and multiple personality problems so large as to be
intimidating. Here's hoping Noein: Volume 2 gives us more of the
same.

Having been abducted (or rescued, depending on your perspective) by Karasu
and taken back to the dimension of La'cryma, young Haruka is now stuck in a
world she does not recognize. The planet has been destroyed by massive machines
from a world called Shangri-la, spreading across dimensional lines, consuming
everything in its path. Humanity now lives underground, and hops through
dimensional lines like an Olympic hurdler, battling to save their world. The
mysterious Dragon Knights reckon that Haruka is the Dragon Torque, a yet-unnamed
force that holds the key to rescuing their world.

However, Karasu begins to suffer some serious emotional problems when forced
to give up Haruka. Apparently the removal of the Dragon Torque will be fatal,
and Haruka's resemblance to an individual in their collective past causes him
(and others) great strife. The decision he makes will have grave consequences
throughout his and Haruka's dimensions…

Noein finally takes the time to clue in the viewer—albeit in
bits and pieces—to what the hell is going on. For an anime targeted at a
teenage audience, there are some fairly profound and complex theories about
parallel dimensions and space/time conversions going on here, much of which is
deep, fascinating, and rooted in some fairly advanced mathematics.

For example: In an infinite world hypothesis, all words exist in parallel
states converging into infinity. No action taken in one dimension will affect
another, because the point is moot—eventually, they will all collapse into
each other. By removing Haruka from her dimension into La'cryma, the Dragon
Knights hope to save their world and pay little regard to the effect on Haruka's
dimension. But Karasu sees things differently—he failed to protect Haruka
in his dimension, and is obsessed with protection this new Haruka, believing her
dimension is actually La'cryma in the past. By saving her in the future, he
hopes to undo his actions in his present. Got all that? Karasu's colleagues
think he's crazy, but that seems to be a recurring dimensional theme.

Things can get a bit muddled with similar incarnations of characters showing
up in parallel dimensions, to say the least. La'cryma needs the Dragon Torque in
order to prevent their own dimension from being destroyed, but there is concern
that the dimension of Haruka is in fact La'cryma from a different vantage point
along the time continuum. If that is the case, then things are going to get very
complicated, very soon. I love the reoccurring themes in the multiple timelines
intermixed with the generational gaps between children and parent that seem to
duplicate themselves again and again, like Yuu and his big sack o' crazy
mother.

Production values stay high for this second installment, with huge
baby-faced monsters tumbling from the sky like gigantic EVAs from
Evangelion and fluid, kinetic, distortion-warping animation style that
manages to be hilarious and scary at the same time. The 2D and 3D CGI animation
melds together seamlessly, and the faux-fisheye lens shots create some of the
most outlandish, wildest animation you will ever see.

Like Volume 1, the transfer is slick as a baby's backside with
vibrant colors, solid detail, and a near-perfect transfer. Black levels are
solid and there is hardly a blemish to be seen. Both English and Japanese 2.0
and 5.1 sound fantastic, with good use of the rear channels that never
overpowers the dialogue. The score is powerful and operatic with plenty of
faceless choir people howling into the background. Bass response is solid. The
dub is of average quality, but the annoyingness of Karusa and Yuu's English
voices are starting to tick me off.

Extras are mild, but a continuation of the previous: we get part two of the
featurette with the director and Japanese voice actress on-set, as well as a
still gallery. I like the "part two" aspect of the featurette—it
gives a nice incentive to the collector who has all parts to the
series—but this disc could have used more supplementary features. Alas,
such is the burden of the anime connoisseur.

Fantastically stylized with strong character development, methinks we have a
lot to look forward to in future installments of Noein, a show that
balances so well between provocative science fiction and personal drama that it
rapidly flies up my favorite anime series list with every passing episode. Final
judgment shall be reserved for the conclusion of the series, but so far, so
good.